1. Technical Field
This invention relates to granular detergent compositions which are capable of providing superior performance during conventional textile laundering and cleaning operations. The compositions of this invention contain an essential components a water-insoluble aluminosilicate ion exchange material, an organic surface active agent, and a mixture of an alkali metal oxide silicate solid with a SiO.sub.2 :alkali metal oxide weight ratio of from about 0.8:1 to 2.3:1 and an alkali metal metaborate or the equivalent.
The use of water-insoluble synthetic aluminosilicates in detergent compositions in combination with organic surface active agents is described in British Patent Specification No. 1,429,143. The compositions of British Patent Specification No. 1,429,143 and indeed all laundry detergent compositions, generally require the presence of a metal corrosion inhibitor to protect the washing machine and also generally require an agent to render granules crisp so as to confer free-flowing characteristics. In typical granular detergent compositions, satisfactory corrosion inhibition and granule crispness are obtained through the incorporation of sodium silicate. For optimum granule crispness of a SiO.sub.2 :Na.sub.2 O weight ratio of from about 2.2:1 to about 3.5:1 is generally employed.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,669 issued Oct. 12, 1976, describes the incorporation of from about 0.5% to about 5% of sodium silicate in detergent compositions containing aluminosilicate ion exchange materials. This patent points out that the use of higher levels of silicate solids in combination with aluminosilicates can present fabric deposition problems due to insolubility of the components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,485, issued Dec. 25, 1979, discloses the incorporation of salts of organic acids in detergent compositions to alleviate insolubility problems caused by a combination of aluminosilicates and silicate solids.
It is an object of the present invention to provide granular detergent compositions containing water-insoluble aluminosilicate ion exchange materials and levels of alkali metal oxide silicate solids capable of providing effective corrosion inhibition in free-flowing granules.
It is a further object of this invention to provide detergent compositions containing water-insoluble aluminosilicates and alkali metal oxide silicate solids that do not provide a problem of fabric appearance due to deposition of insoluble material.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a process for making said detergent compositions.